Counteract "brain drain" and strengthen Austria as a business location by offering doctoral programmes at universities of applied sciences (HAW)/universities of applied sciences (FH)!

As recently revealed by the Austrian Federation of Industry, around 1.4 (!) million people - including 170,000 qualified specialists - emigrated from Austria between 2011 and 2023: https://www.iv.at/news/detail/oesterreich-mit-deutlicher-abwanderung-qualifizierter-arbeitskraefte-konfrontiert/.

IV President Georg Knill put it in a nutshell: "We are losing the very people we need most urgently: Highly qualified workers are leaving Austria because they find better conditions for their professional and personal development elsewhere - especially in high-performing and competitive EU and OECD countries."

The President of the Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK), Ulrike Prommer, takes up this problem and adds that although highly qualified doctoral students are currently also being trained at Austrian universities of applied sciences, the degree is then awarded by a university abroad due to the legal situation. The alarming thing about this is that research is financed with Austrian funds and infrastructure, but the scientific reputation goes abroad because the degree is awarded there. This cannot be in the interests of Austrian science policy!

The Austrian HAW/FH submit a Effective solution proposal and combine this with a haunting Appeal to the domestic federal government:

• "UASs are strong research institutions. Their research is application- and solution-orientated and takes place in close cooperation with industrial companies and SMEs. This results in new and improved technologies, processes, products and business models and, last but not least, exciting start-up projects", describes Ulrike Prommer, President of the University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK), the starting position. 
• "In order to take this research work to new heights, keep highly qualified young people at the location and attract international 'top talent' to Austria, a doctoral programme for research-strong UASs is an indispensable prerequisite." supplemented Kurt Koleznik, FHK Secretary General.
• Stefan Fitz-Rankl, CEO of FH Vorarlberg, however, points to a central bottleneck: "While in neighbouring Germany, 12 out of 16 federal states have now enshrined the right to award doctorates for universities of applied sciences/universities of applied sciences in law, making the best experiences with this and strengthening their technology, innovation and business location, our best minds in Austria have been denied this opportunity since our foundation 30 years ago."
• Dominik Engel, Rector of the FH Salzburg supplemented: "This is despite the fact that we have previously invested an enormous amount of money, energy and expertise in their qualification and that our domestic industry and SMEs urgently need innovative research impulses; instead of offering them development prospects that are urgently in demand in Austria, we are virtually driving them abroad. In neighbouring Germany, people are happy about this neighbourly help, not without secretly shaking their heads at the relevant framework conditions in Austria."
• Hannes Raffaseder, CEO of the St. Pölten UAS, refers to an additional problem: "A number of Austrian UASs have been entrusted by the European Commission with the establishment of 'European Universities' and have been internationally honoured. Without the right to award doctorates, how are we supposed to successfully participate in the international concert and establish European beacons for research, development, study and know-how transfer? Our European University partners are constantly asking us when we will finally be able to play a powerful role in an equal partnership with the right to award doctorates."
• Michale Rabl, President of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, builds a bridge to the emigration of highly qualified workers lamented by the Federation of Austrian Industries: "For 30 years, Austrian universities of applied sciences and universities of applied sciences have been delivering top performance on a daily basis, especially in the field of application-orientated, technology-related, company-relevant research. Let's finally remove the outdated legal blockade, create development opportunities for 'top talents' in Austria and turn the 'brain drain' into a 'brain gain'".
• MCI Rector Andreas Altmann: "In Tyrol, we are particularly affected by the unequal framework conditions. Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and other cities are home to numerous global corporations and are closer to Innsbruck than Vienna. In Germany, you can earn more, live more cheaply, do a doctorate and start an international career. We should finally rectify the legal inequality, which will benefit the entire science and business location, including the local universities."
• Siegfried Spanz, CEO of the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, also a partner in a European University that is currently being established: "In Germany and other industrialised countries around the world, it has been understood that an internationally competitive centre of business, technology and innovation cannot be maintained in the long term with basic research at universities alone, which is primarily aimed at the 'scientific community'."
• Andreas Breinbauer, Rector of the FH BFI Vienna: "In view of the urgent need, the Austrian Governors' Conference called on the Austrian federal government several years ago by unanimous resolution to create the right to award doctorates for research-intensive universities of applied sciences/universities of applied sciences. This decision must finally be honoured."
• FHK President Ulrike Prommer formulated this in a joint appeal to the domestic federal government: "The proposals are on the table. With a simple amendment to the law, Austrian universities of applied sciences/universities of applied sciences with strong research capabilities can be given the opportunity to submit doctoral programmes for accreditation. The relevant evidence must be submitted there, as is the case in Germany and other countries, where it works without any problems."